Wanting to breed my yearling heifer But.....

[TripleB]

She will be 15 months late July and she weighs approx. 700lbs...but I have not yet seen any signs of heat. Would it be too early for her to start coming in or could it be that I am missing it because she is the only cow out here?
I used to raise dairy goats and I know regardless of how far away a buck was they would bawl their head off like crazy. Is it the same for cows? Also, will they always have a discharge or is that an afterthought?
I had to move my bull to a bigger pasture so he's no help. :roll: I want to A.I. her but don't want to waste semen if she's not in heat.

Here's a pic of her, if that might help

Any input would be helpful

Stefani

 

[msscamp]

Would it be too early for her to start coming in or could it be that I am missing it because she is the only cow out here?

Stefani

No, it's not too early - heifers generally start cycling around 6 months of age. I would say you're missing her heat cycles because she is the only animal out there. Most heifers - and cows, for that matter - do not bawl when they are in heat. You might consider getting her a companion and then you could detect heat cycles more easily.

 

[preston39]

Her body score is low. She may be late in coming in heat but, likely you are missing it. She should show some clear/bloody drainage when in estrus....put another cow/bull with her and watch for the normal signs.

 

[Stepper]

Are you sure about her age and weight or are you guessing them. Age wise she is plenty old enough to breed but if it were me i would want her weighing about 800 + lbs before have her bred.

But if you are sure she is 15 months old i am wondering why she does not already weigh more than 700 lbs ? At that age i would think she should be weighing close to 900 lbs.

And with her only weighing 700 lbs at 15 months of age what comes to mind is she was some how stunted a little bit while she was growing. Which might have affected here bone growth allowing here to reach a level of maturity that would of let her pelvic bones develope properly. Which would help her avoid possible calfing problems.

If you are only guessing at her age you might want to let her get a little more size on here before breeding her.

That is just my 2 cents worth for what ever it is worth.

Good luck.

 

[aplusmnt]

I could not imagine trying to detect heat with nothing to show her being ridden. I have had the hardest time in past even with a pen of other heifers or steers with one.

I would think time breeding might be your best shot if you have nothing to ride her to detect standing heat.

 

[dun]

Som ewill be vocal, some restless, some will have a mucus discharge, some will just behave differently, some there will be no observable signs. If you see mucus and a little blood in it that means she was in heat 3-4 days before. Get more groceries into her, condition is a little low, and put another animal with her. Doesn;t generally matter if it's a steer, heifer or cow, she will then at least have someon to interact with.

dun

 

[novatech]

She will be 15 months late July and she weighs approx. 700lbs...but I have not yet seen any signs of heat. Would it be too early for her to start coming in or could it be that I am missing it because she is the only cow out here?
I used to raise dairy goats and I know regardless of how far away a buck was they would bawl their head off like crazy. Is it the same for cows? Also, will they always have a discharge or is that an afterthought?
I had to move my bull to a bigger pasture so he's no help. :roll: I want to A.I. her but don't want to waste semen if she's not in heat.

Here's a pic of her, if that might help

Any input would be helpful

Stefani

Here is a site you may want to look at.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/Beef/compo ... esson5.pdf

 

[TripleB]

She just turned 12 months and yes, I am sure of her age...I got her when she was a week old calf. Thanks for all the input.

 

[Victoria]

Stick her on a synch program. Trying to detect a cow in heat alone would be difficult if not impossible.

 

[cow_crazy_101]

She just turned 12 months and yes, I am sure of her age...I got her when she was a week old calf. Thanks for all the input.

was she a bottle baby? She kinda looks like a bottle baby.....

 

[*Cowgirl*]

CIDR and lute

 

[aplusmnt]

Som ewill be vocal, some restless, some will have a mucus discharge, some will just behave differently, some there will be no observable signs. If you see mucus and a little blood in it that means she was in heat 3-4 days before. Get more groceries into her, condition is a little low, and put another animal with her. Doesn;t generally matter if it's a steer, heifer or cow, she will then at least have someon to interact with.

dun

dun you ever have any luck with detecting heat with out another animal to watch. I picture you are like a bull and can just smell when it is time ;-) :lol:

 

[hillsdown]

She will be 15 months late July and she weighs approx. 700lbs...but I have not yet seen any signs of heat.

Stefani

If my math is right she is around the one year mark now and you should start seeing heats.You need to get another animal in with her steer or cow like everyone says.Or you can time breed her at 15 months if you are experineced in AI you will know if she is in heat when you breed her.So if you want to AI her but don't want to waste semen on a non cycling animal use pipet before you get your semen ready if she's not in heat don't breed her.Also she has 2 and a half months to grow before you breed her now is the time when she will really be working on her frame so some added nutrition might not be a bad idea and after she is bred she is still going to grow.But she is not really small for a yearling.It is hard to judge from a picture with out knowing the pedigree.

 

[dun]

dun you ever have any luck with detecting heat with out another animal to watch. I picture you are like a bull and can just smell when it is time ;-) :lol:

I can;t curl my lip as well as I did in my younger days! With some cows/heifers it's been easy. A hiefer that mounted me one day while I was cleaning out the water tank was the easiest one.
Typically folks with just one animal are much more attuned to that one animals behaviour patterns then those that have a number of cows. When I had the AI service the majority of my clients had a single cow. The vast majority of the time when they would call to have them bred they would be right. That was strictly an observation and variation from normal kind of deal.

dun